It may seem strange to some people because I am an English major and writing minor, but I don't like poetry. I don't. Although it can be beautiful sometimes, it's more often a pain in the ass, both to write and read.

I had to write a lot of poetry for my Creative Writing II class and Art & Poetry Collaboration class I took last year. Talk about a headache. Even after scribbling poem after poem, I don't feel like I've been able to improve much. Nor has my understanding of poetry grown. I mostly get lots at the leaping logic part, which I think is highly mislabeled. I am a very reasonable and logical person, but there is no logic in this leaping business my professors spoke of. It's nonsense.

At the same time, my inablitity to understand poetry half stems from the fact that I don't read poetry. How can anyone write well if they do not constantly look at good examples. I'm sure there are poets out there whose poetry I would like, but I'm not interested in it enough to get up and search out these illusive poets.

I don't read poetry because I have a hard time understanding it. I'm a blunt and often oblivious person who needs things spelled out for me. Hence, I'm not interested in reading a poem over and over again, trying to analyze and figure out what the hell the poet is trying to say. Sure it sounds pretty, but what does it mean?! It's so frustrating.

Thus I am stuck in a cycle. So why do I keep trying to write poetry every once in a while, for example, the Shattering the Silence Exhibit? Why do I torture myself?